


Going Home

by Daisy_jm



Category: Leverage
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-22
Updated: 2015-06-22
Packaged: 2018-04-05 13:12:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,049
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4181067
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Daisy_jm/pseuds/Daisy_jm
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Eliot's thoughts as he drives home</p>
            </blockquote>





	Going Home

Going home

Eliot looked out the windshield, miles of black asphalt laid out in front of him. Broken yellow lines reflecting back in his sunglasses. The soft twang of a guitar spilled out of the radio, filling the cab with a familiar sound, he hummed along. His hair flipped around with the wind from the open window.

Content, he felt content. For the first time in months, he felt content. He had nowhere to be, no deadline to keep. Nothing but time stood in front of him and he was content with that.

As the tires rolled over the miles towards what Eliot now called home. A farmhouse that needs work. Work that he never had time to do. Floorboards that creaked and windows that let in a draft, but it was home. It’s been a long time since he had a place to call home. Sure, he had houses to sleep in. Some even had a bed, but just houses....walls and a roof. Never a home. Home was in front of him and he was going home.

Nate had asked them for some time off. The demons and memories in his head were getting too much to drown in shots of whiskey. Sophie needed to pull him out of the dark. She started talking about Paris. Eliot stopped listening when he heard shopping and shoes in the same sentence. Nate was going because he needed her and that’s where she was going. Hardison, he didn’t bother to listen where he was going. Comic Book was the only thing that registered with him. 

“Boring” was all he growled out with a roll of him eyes. He stopped reading comic books when he was a kid. That kid was long gone, never to be seen again. Hell, he didn’t want to be that kid again. Wide eyed and naive, looking at the world through rose colored glasses. His glasses were broken a long time ago. How Hardison still has him, he will never know. He would be still holding his Nana’s apron strings if he could. 

Eliot snorted at the thought of that. Thoughts of his Mama floated through his mind. Learning how to cook and bake. The summer smells that came in from the open truck window helped guide him down memory lane. He totally was a Mama’s Boy, he would never admit it out loud. Even under any torture, but he was. Eliot Spencer, world best unarmed hand-to-hand combat specialist, renowned Hitter and all around Badass was a Mama’s Boy. He was more afraid of his Mama then any seasoned criminal he had ever come across. A secret he would take to his grave. 

“If I ever have a son. Lord, make him a Mama’s boy” A son – a pipedream in Eliot’s life. He would never bring a child into this world. His world. His world consisted of half truths and questionable actions. Life lived on the razor thin line of right and wrong. They all played the game of Cops and Robbers – Judge and Jury. Making calls of life or death. Not a life a child should be forced to live. He had enemies and bounties on his head – a price on his life. He can live with that. A child could not. Still, it was a dream that stayed in the back of his mind. Every once in awhile, it floated before his eyes. A blue eyed boy, with a dirty face and bare feet danced in front of him. Only to fade away when Eliot would reach out to him. He understood it was a luxury that he would never afford.

Eliot shook his head, not time for self pity. He made his choice and he was happy to live with the consequence. No regrets. Eliot knew regrets and this was not one to dwell on.  
Turning the radio up, forcing his mind to change gears. Old Garth Brooks touched his ears. A smug grin pulled at his lips as he softly sang along, his thumb tapping in time on the steering wheel. 

“She’s every woman that I’ve ever known” 

If any song described the impish Blonde thief, that was it. She drove him crazy like no one else. Made him stutter and fight the urge to bite his nails. A habit he had not done since high school. She was his undoing most days.

Hardison asked Parker if she wanted to come with him. His response was a shrug of her shoulders and a mumbled comment “nah, I’m going home”, as she shoved another spoonful of sugary cereal in her mouth. Both Nate and Sophie looked up at her. Questions played across their face. “Where”? They asked in unison. With the spoon in her mouth “mmhomemm” paired with another shrug.

Sophie is not rendered speechless easily. If Eliot had a camera, that would be the picture of a life time. Her mouth a gap, eyebrows lost in her perfectly coifed bangs. Words frozen in her throat. A once in a life time occurrence. Parker just shrugged again, hopped off the counter. Abandoning her bowl and spoon, practically running out the door, coat and bag in hand. Three sets of confused eyes looked on. One set just looked amused. 

They all had seen her warehouse. That was NOT a home. Parker never let on that she had any place other then the stark empty warehouse. But Parker always had a way of surprising them. Even after years of learning “Parker-ize” she still managed to pull one over on them. If she went “full on Parker” there was no chance of recovery. Eliot lived to tell about it after spending a fateful weekend with her after her and Hardison decided the being “Parker and Hardison” was not working. 

Memories of that weekend clouded his mind. Parker called him, sounding more confused and out of it than normal. Asking if he was ever dumped, how he dumped someone? Why was this hard and why she had to do it? Calming her down to get full sentences out of her and eventually he got the idea. Hardison wanted to talk about Pretzels. Parker was just getting to be ok with Pretzels and now the Pretzels wanted to walk away. He sat through tears and screams and yelling. But they made it through the weekend with only one bruise and a few band-aids. 

That weekend with Parker and the talk that followed with Hardison not to long after was a memory that he visited a few times. Did he make the right call? Was it his place to step in? Hardison seemed to think so and he had no problem telling Eliot that.

“Look, she needs more then I can give. You know, man” “I can’t give her the safety and security that she needs” “I live in my computer and she lives in her head” “Bro, she need someone like you”

That had Eliot sitting up

“Wh..what did you say?”

“Look man, Parker is a great girl and I thought it was what I wanted. But I think I became happier with the idea of being with her, then actually being with her” 

This coming from guy that pinned for her for years. 

Eliot could not believe what he was hearing. “Are you telling me that you don’t want her anymore?” 

“I guess what I am saying is...after waiting for so long for her to make up her mind...living in the friend zone...I like the friend zone. Its way easier Bro” 

“Dammit Hardison, you knew being with Parker would not be easy” 

“I know Eliot, but I’m not the guy she needs. She needs you” 

“So, you’re telling me you are breaking up with her so I can be with her? You can’t decide that for me” 

Eliot could feel the need to hit something brewing. He clenched his fists. 

“How can you tell me this? I told you there was no take backs with this. You made your intentions for her know from the start. She’s not a toy you call dibs on man” 

“Chill Eliot! We talked about it. She wants to just be friends too”

Eliot was fuming now. Sure, he was attracted to her from the start, But Hardison was vocal from the get go about his feeling for the blonde and Eliot took the backseat on this. He may be a bad guy but he does not scoop his friend’s girls. But now Hardison stood in front of him saying he changed his mind, only a few months after getting what he wanted. Eliot started pacing...trying to keep the urge to punch the hacker in the face down.

“Bro. Look man, lemme tell you....”

Eliot cut him off “Let me tell you, this is not right. You don’t just drop a girl and turn to the next guy and say... Here you go, especially if that girl is Parker” “She’s crazy on a good day”

“Dude, that’s not what I am doing. We talked about it. She’s good with it”

“Are you telling me you and Parker talked about this? About her being with me?”

“Well....” Hardison started to stutter “Not being with you per say” “But being with someone she trusts”

“I can’t believe this”

“Look, just talk to her. She needs you, Man.” 

She needs you. Those words hit him hard. He spent weeks rolling those words through his mind. Every time he saw her, he thought about what that meant. She did not look at him any different, did not talk to him any different. She seemed to only annoy him more. A few more weeks slipped by. The words still sitting in Eliot’s stomach like a rock. She needs you.

Then the mountain happened. “It makes us – us” The bitter truth spilled from his lips. The pain in her eyes filled with heartbreak. She needs you. At that time he understood what Hardison meant.

The night after they got home from that job, Eliot went to his farmhouse to unwind and process this new understanding of what Hardison said. Only to be confronted with the Blond herself. 

“I like your place” 

A shaky thanks fell from his lips. He was nervous, why was he nervous? Eliot was rooted in his doorway. Parker stood two feet in front of him. 

“Thank you Eliot”

“For what?” 

“For doing the right thing, I trust you”

I trust you. That hit him like a semi at full speed. His mouth went dry and his palms sweaty. She took a small step towards him. He stayed where he was. 

“I don’t know what to do, Hardison turned out all wrong” 

Another step forwards. 

Eliot was frozen in his spot on the floor. His eyes looking right at her. Her eyes everywhere but his.

“Am I the problem?” 

Another step forward. 

She was inches from him. He was breathing deeper then he wanted it to be. 

“No Parker, you’re not” 

She brought her hand up and played with the zipper on his coat. 

“Then why can’t i do this right?” 

She finally looked him in the eye, she was looking for him to tell her the answer to an unanswerable question. 

“Parker, I..” he never got the next word out as she closed the small gap and placed her lips on his. 

Eliot did not hesitate; his hand wrapped around her and held her tight. He kissed her with all he had, hoping she would get the answer she was looking for. Pulling back, she looked at him. 

“It makes us – us”

As if that sums up everything that needed to said, perhaps it did. 

That was months ago. He still thought about that night often, it always brought a smile to his face.  
Now, here in his truck flying down the highway to that same farmhouse, that same smile sitting on his face. The highway turnoff approached, Eliot turned on to a gravel driveway. The crunch under the tires brought his sleeping passenger out of her slumber. Parker sat up, looking around her eyes unfocused from sleep. 

“Where are we?”

“Just about home” He said with a smirk

He was rewarded with a huge smile on her face. 

‘Good, I’m hungry” 

Eliot was content, he was going home.


End file.
